By June Mathews
Imagine a vacation minus the prospect of canceled flights, expensive accommodations, rental cars and heavy luggage – a trip that can move at a relaxing pace, or not, and that the whole family can enjoy. Sound appealing? Then you might want to consider a road trip by school bus. Not just your regular run-of-the-mill school bus, but a retired school bus converted to serve as a home-away-from-home on wheels, complete with a kitchen area, a compact lavatory and space for sleeping.
Known as a “skoolie” in camping and conversion circles, such a bus allows an Over the Mountain family of five to take classic all-American road trips, stopping anywhere and anytime they please while having the comfort and convenience of living in their own tiny home.
“We were a young family with three kids, and on multiple vacations, mainly out West, we had rented either an RV or an Airstream trailer,” said the father in that family, who asked that his name not be used to protect his privacy. “We were familiar with them, and we enjoyed those vacations. So, my wife and I began shopping around for something of our own.”
He liked the idea of a camper he could drive instead of towing but was unimpressed with the quality of materials used in the manufactured RVs they considered. But the more they looked and learned, the more they realized that a skoolie would be the best fit for their family.
“I was attracted to the robustness, durability and ground clearance of a school bus,” he said. “River raft companies use them to transport people and equipment on steep dirt roads, which appealed to me. I knew it would be good for camping and on dirt roads.”
And so began a search of the rather extensive retired school bus market.
“Every school district in this country has a budget for school buses, and they replace them after a certain mileage,” he said. “So this country is loaded with used school buses, and there’s a nationwide network of used school bus dealerships.”
He was looking for a bus no longer than 29 feet, so it would fit into most national park campground spaces. He finally found what he wanted – a 2009 Thomas Built flat-nose 28-foot passenger bus – in Tampa, Florida. He flew down and drove it home, and from there Silverliner Custom Trailer Designs took over.
“Airstreams are our primary focus, but we can design and build any small space desired for mobile use,” said Silverliner President Gavin Trinoskey of Mountain Brook, who is not easily rattled by customer requests.
“I’ve been asked to design trailers for recreational travel and guesthouses, as well as mobile businesses and offices.
“One lady wanted to install a piano in a trailer so she could give mobile piano lessons, which would have involved disassembling and rebuilding the trailer around the piano since it wouldn’t fit through the door. She ultimately went in another direction, but we were ready to do it!”
So, when approached about outfitting a bus for family road trips, Trinoskey didn’t bat an eye. He sat down with the family to determine their exact needs, wants and tastes, and the all-important planning process began.
“We started with questions about the use so we could understand the functionality needed, but we quickly began discussing how to personalize the skoolie,” said Trinoskey. “We used design boards for inspiration from RVs and home designs.”
The next step was to remove everything from the bus, inside and out, then rebuild, refurbish and replace everything with its new components. The entire process took 14 months.
“We don’t use outside crews or subcontractors,” Trinoskey said. “We do just about everything in-house.”
When all was said and done, the customers were thrilled.
“Gavin did a fantastic job,” the skoolie dad said.
Freedom and Flexibility
The family has since driven the bus from Birmingham to Acadia, Maine, back down through New York, along the Eastern Seaboard, and down through Ohio. The customized bus has also journeyed to Key West, North Carolina, Tennessee and Florida.
“I can’t say it’s not a tight fit,” the father said. “When we started this project, our kids were in middle school. Now one’s going to college, and the other two are in high school, so the space can get small pretty quick. But the boys are happy outside in a tent if the weather is nice, so it works out fine.”
But the best part of having a skoolie?
“The freedom and the flexibility of it,” he said. “You can go anywhere you want to, and you can leave when you want to. I also like seeing the in-between spaces, the journey from home to destination. I like seeing the country along the way.
“It’s a dramatic upgrade from camping, and it’s a lot more rustic and primitive than a hotel. It’s kind of a middle step, but it’s one that works well for us.”
New Life Granted to Old Airstream
Silverliner Custom Trailer Designs breathes new life into old travel trailers and motorhomes, converting them into homes on wheels, mobile offices – anything someone needs to be compact and mobile.
Owned by Mountain Brook-area couple Gavin and Caroline Trinoskey, the company recently did a dramatic redesign for Georgia golf pro Bill Connally. Connally, who also is an avid sports fisher, wanted a nautical-themed custom Airstream.
The trailer that Silverliner converted for him is a 1968 Airstream Ambassador. It was rescued from a backyard in Thomasville, Georgia, for the price of $1,200, Gavin Trinoskey said.
Now it sits on the coast in Bristol, Maine, 1,300 miles north of here.
Oh, and Connally named the Airstream “Ono,” after the fish, of course.
